Scalable multi-source GPS signal distribution network

ABSTRACT

A signal distribution system includes global positioning system receivers in communication with optical line terminals and a system manager. Each global positioning system receiver receives a signal from a corresponding global positioning system satellite. Each optical line terminal includes a management card and a line card. The management card receives a signal from a corresponding global positioning system receiver. Each line card receives a signal from each management card and determines a signal drift and a phase precision for each signal. The system manager receives a failure communication for a global positioning system signal from a line card when the signal drift of the global positioning system signal is above a threshold signal drift or the phase precision of the signal is below a threshold phase precision. The system manager identifies a failure location of the signal within the system based on one or more received failure communications.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure relates to a scalable and reliable multi-source GPSSignal distribution framework.

BACKGROUND

A communication network is generally a large distributed system forreceiving information (e.g., a signal) and transmitting the informationto a destination. Over the past few decades the demand for communicationaccess has dramatically increased. Although conventional wire and fiberlandlines, cellular networks, and geostationary satellite systems havecontinuously been increasing to accommodate the growth in demand, theexisting communication infrastructure is still not large enough toaccommodate the increase in demand. The growth in demand is mainlyattributable to the coming together of different technological systemsthat perform similar tasks. These technological systems performdifferent functions, such as voice (e.g., telephone service), data(e.g., World Wide Web), and video (e.g., television broadcast), and havenow converged and share the same resources and interact with each othersynergistically. The telecommunications convergence led to the rise andadvancement of digital communication due to the delivery of text, audio,and video over the same wired, wireless, or fiber optic connections.

Due to the constant increase in the number of devices that acommunication network supports, telecommunication service providers havedeveloped ways to distribute accurate time and information over thecommunication infrastructure. The communication infrastructure includesan optical line terminal (OLT) that sends a multiplexed signal (wherethe signal includes audio, video, and data signals) to a remote node,which ultimately distributes the received signal to multiple ends users.High-precision time is important in a communication network. Forexample, femtocell or picocell stations in 4G/LTE communication networksdepend on the accurate time and frequency for time-division duplexing(TDD) and frequency-division duplexing (FDD). One of the methods used toimprove the communication system is to configure the OLT as a masterserver that receives high-precision time directly from a satellite of aGlobal Positioning System (GPS) and delivers phase and frequency signalsvia IEEE-1588 Precision Time Protocol (PTP) or Synchronous Ethernet(SyncE).

Currently, GPS based time master server architecture supports a verylimited number of clients due to constraints in the computationresources of the time master server. The time master server architecturefails to provide a scalable architecture due to its limited computationresources.

SUMMARY

One aspect of the disclosure provides a cascaded distribution frameworkthat includes a global positioning system receiver in communication withoptical line terminals. Each global positioning system receiver receivesa signal from a corresponding global positioning system satellite. Eachoptical line terminal includes a management card for each globalpositioning system receiver in communication with the optical lineterminal and a line card. The management card receives a globalpositioning system signal from a corresponding global positioning systemreceiver. The line card is collocated for each management card in theoptical line terminal. Each line card receives a global positioningsystem signal from each management card in the optical line terminal,determines a signal quality score of each received signal based on asignal drift and a phase precision of the corresponding signal, andselects one of the received GPS signals having the highest signalquality score. Moreover, the line card uses a time of day component ofthe selected signal having the highest quality score.

Implementations of the disclosure may include one or more of thefollowing features. In some implementations, the global positioningsystem receiver, the management cards, and the line cards each include areplicator. The replicator of each global positioning system receiverreceives a global positioning system signal from its correspondingglobal positioning system satellite and replicates the received globalpositioning system signal for communication to the correspondingmanagement card in each optical line terminal. The replicator of eachmanagement card receives a global positioning system signal from itscorresponding global positioning system receiver and replicates thereceived global positioning system signal for communication to each linecard in the optical line terminal. Moreover, the replicator of each linecard receives global positioning system signals from each of themanagement cards of the optical line terminal and replicates thereceived global positioning system signals. The replicator may include afield programmable gate array, a fan-out buffer, or any programmable orapplication specific device.

In some examples, each line card includes multiple selectors. Eachselector receives the replicated global positioning system signals fromthe replicator of the line card. Moreover, each selector determines thesignal quality score of each received signal based on a signal drift anda phase precision of the corresponding signal and selects one of thereceived GPS signals having the highest signal quality score. In someimplementations, each line card includes at least as many selectors asglobal positioning system receivers in the signal distribution system.

In some implementations, the global positioning system signal isassociated with a source identification identifying a global positioningsystem satellite sending the global positioning system signal. The linecard, after determining the signal quality score of each receivedsignal, may associate a source identification with the determined signalquality score, store the signal quality score and the associated sourceidentification in non-transitory memory, and select the sourceidentification associated with the received signal having the highestsignal quality score.

Each global positioning system signal may include a frequency signalcomponent, a pulse per second signal component, and the time-of-daycomponent. In some examples, the signal drift includes a drift of thepulse per second signal component and a drift of the frequency signalcomponent. The line card determines the signal drift of a signal basedon a total drift of a signal, the frequency drift of a signal, the pulseper second drift of the signal, and a function of the frequency driftand the pulse per second drift of the signal.

In some implementations, each line card includes multiple selectors.Each selector receives multiple global positioning system signals. Inaddition, the phase precision includes an offline measurement and anonline measurement. The offline measurement is a measurement of apropagation delay of the pulse per second component of the globalpositioning system signal between the global positioning system receiverand the selector. The online measurement is a measurement of a relativephase offset of the pulse per second signal component. The relativephase offset is determined based on a reference pulse per secondreference signal. The reference signal may be the received pulse persecond signal component received at the selector or a signal generatedby a high-precision high-frequency oscillator. The line card determinesthe phase precision of the signal based on: the offline measurement ofthe propagation delay of the pulse per second signal component betweenthe global positioning system receiver and the selector; and the onlinemeasurement of the relative phase offset of the pulse per second signalcomponent. In addition, the line card determines the signal qualityscore based on a function for determining the signal quality score, anda convergence of a phase accuracy of the pulse per second signalcomponent, which is in turn based on the phase precision of a signal anda median value of the received pulse per second signal component.

Another aspect of the disclosure provides a method that includes, foreach optical line terminal in a signal distribution system, receiving aglobal positioning system signal from each global positioning systemreceiver in the signal distribution system at a corresponding managementcard of the optical line terminal. Moreover, the method includes, foreach line card of each optical line terminal, receiving a globalpositioning system signal from each management card in the optical lineterminal, determining a signal quality score of each received signalbased on a signal drift and a phase precision of the correspondingsignal, and selecting one of the received GPS signals having the highestsignal quality score. The method includes using a time-of-day componentof the selected global positioning system signal as a time source.

In some implementations, the method includes receiving a globalpositioning system signal from its corresponding global positioningsystem satellite at each global positioning system receiver andreplicating the received global positioning system signal forcommunication to the corresponding management card in each optical lineterminal. The method also includes receiving a global positioning systemsignal at each management card from its corresponding global positioningsystem receiver and replicating the received global positioning systemsignal for communication to each line card in the optical line terminal.Additionally, the method includes receiving global positioning systemsignals at each line card from each of the management cards of theoptical line terminal and replicating the received global positioningsystem signals. In some examples, the method includes replicating theglobal positioning system signal using a field programmable gate array,a fan-out buffer, or any programmable or application specific device.

In some implementations, the method includes receiving, at multipleselectors in each line card, a global positioning system signal fromeach management card in the corresponding optical line terminal anddetermining a signal quality score of each received signal based on asignal drift and a phase precision of the corresponding signal. Themethod also includes selecting one of the received GPS signals havingthe highest signal quality score. In some examples, each line cardincludes at least as many selectors as global positioning systemreceivers in the signal distribution system.

In some implementations, the method further includes associating eachglobal positioning system signal with a source identification thatidentifies a global positioning system satellite sending the globalpositioning system signal. After determining the signal quality score ofeach received signal, the line card may associate a sourceidentification with the determined signal quality score and store thesignal quality score and the associated source identification innon-transitory memory and select the source identification associatedwith the received signal having the highest signal quality score.

Each global positioning signal may include a frequency signal component,a pulse per second signal component, and the time-of-day component.Moreover, the signal drift may include a drift of the pulse per secondsignal component and a drift of the frequency signal component. In someexamples, the method further includes determining the signal drift of asignal based on a total drift of a signal, the frequency drift of thesignal, the pulse per second drift of the signal, and a function of thefrequency drift and the pulse per second drift of the signal.Additionally, each line card may include multiple selectors. Eachselector receives multiple global positioning system signals. The phaseprecision includes an offline measurement and an online measurement. Theoffline measurement is a measurement of a propagation delay of the pulseper second component of the global positioning system signal between theglobal positioning system receiver and the selector; and the onlinemeasurement is a measurement of a relative phase offset of the pulse persecond signal component, the relative phase offset determined based on areference pulse per second reference signal. In some implementations,the reference is the received pulse per second signal component receivedat the selector or a signal generated by a high-precision high-frequencyoscillator. In some examples, the method further includes determiningthe phase precision of the signal based on the offline measurement andthe online measurement. The method also includes determining the signalquality score based on a function for determining the signal qualityscore and a convergence of a phase accuracy of the pulse per secondsignal component (based on a median value of the received pulse persecond signal component).

Another aspect of the disclosure provides a method that includesreceiving global positioning system signals from global positioningsystem receivers. The global positioning system receivers receive theglobal positioning system signals from corresponding global positioningsystem satellites. The method also includes determining, using aselector circuit, a signal quality score of each received signal basedon a signal drift and a phase precision of the corresponding signal andselecting, using the selector circuit, one of the received GPS signalshaving the highest signal quality score.

Implementations of the disclosure may include one or more of thefollowing features. In some implementations, after determining thesignal quality score of each received signal, the method furtherincludes associating a source identification with the determined signalquality score. The source identification identifies a global positioningsystem satellite that sends the global positioning system signal. Themethod also includes storing the signal quality score and the associatedsource identification in non-transitory memory, and selecting the sourceidentification associated with the received global positioning systemsignal having the highest signal score.

In some examples, each global positioning system signal includes afrequency signal component, a pulse per second signal component, and thetime-of-day signal component. Moreover, the signal drift may include adrift of the pulse per second signal component and a drift of thefrequency signal component. The method may include determining thesignal drift of a signal based on a total drift of a signal, thefrequency drift of the signal, the pulse per second drift of the signal,and a function of the frequency drift and the pulse per second drift ofthe signal. In some examples, the phase precision includes an offlinemeasurement and an online measurement. The offline measurement is ameasurement of a propagation delay of the pulse per second component ofthe global positioning system signal between the global positioningsystem receiver and the selector circuit. The online measurement is ameasurement of a relative phase offset of the pulse per second signalcomponent, the relative phase offset determined based on a referencepulse per second reference signal. In some examples, the referencesignal is the received pulse per second signal component received at theselector or a signal generated by a high-precision high-frequencyoscillator. The method may also include determining the phase precisionof the signal based on the phase precision of a signal, the offlinemeasurement, and the online measurement. In some examples, the methodincludes determining the signal quality score based on a function fordetermining the signal quality score and a convergence of a phaseaccuracy of the pulse per second signal component (determined based on amedian value of the received pulse per second signal component and thephase precision of the signal).

In some implementations, the method further includes iterating througheach of the global positioning system signals from global positioningsystem receivers and, for each iteration, receiving a primary signalincluding a currently selected global positioning system signal havingthe highest signal quality score and a secondary signal including theglobal positioning system signal of the corresponding iteration. Inaddition, after iterating through all of the global positioning systemsignals from global positioning system receivers, the method includes:determining the signal quality score of each received signal based on asignal drift and a phase precision of the corresponding signal; andselecting the global positioning system signal having the highest signalquality score as the primary signal. In some examples, at eachiteration, the method also includes receiving a source identification ofthe primary signal and a source identification of the secondary signal.Additionally, when the received primary signal source identificationdoes not match a source identification of the currently selected globalpositioning system signal, the method includes triggering an error.

In some implementations, when receiving, at a selector, a rising edge ofa pulse per second signal component of the global positioning systemsignal, the method includes setting a bi-directional pin to an input pinand receiving the primary and optionally the secondary signal sourceidentification. Moreover, when receiving a falling edge of the pulse persecond signal component of the global positioning system signal, themethod includes setting the bi-directional pin to an output pin andoutputting the primary signal source identification and the secondarysignal source identification. In some examples, when receiving a risingedge of the pulse per second signal component of the global positioningsystem signal, the method includes comparing the received primary signalsource identification with the primary signal source identificationoutputted after the previous falling edge of the pulse per second signalcomponent and triggering an error when the primary signal sourceidentifications do not match.

In some examples, the method includes receiving, at a replicator, theglobal positioning system signals from the global positioning systemreceivers. The replicator replicates the global positioning systemsignals. The method also includes receiving the global positioningsystem signals at multiple selectors in communication with thereplicator. Each selector receives from the replicator a globalpositioning system signal from each global positioning system receiver,determines a signal quality score of each received signal based on asignal drift and a phase precision of the corresponding signal, andselects one of the received GPS signals having the highest signalquality score. Moreover, the line card uses a time of day component ofthe selected signal having the highest quality score.

Another aspect of the disclosure provides a signal source selectorsystem that includes a receiver circuit and a selector circuit is incommunication with the receiver circuit. The receiver circuit receivesglobal positioning system signals from global positioning systemreceivers. The global positioning system receivers receive the globalpositioning system signals from corresponding global positioning systemsatellites. The selector circuit determines a signal quality score ofeach received signal based on a signal drift and a phase precision ofthe corresponding signal and selects one of the received GPS signalshaving the highest signal quality score. Moreover, the line card uses atime of day component of the selected signal having the highest qualityscore.

In some implementations, after determining the signal quality score ofeach received signal, the selector circuit associates a sourceidentification with the determined signal quality score. The sourceidentification identifies a global positioning system satellite sendingthe global positioning system signal. In addition, the selector circuitstores the signal quality score and the associated source identificationin non-transitory memory in communication with the selector circuit andselects the source identification associated with the received globalpositioning system signal having the highest signal score. Each globalpositioning system signal includes a frequency signal component, a pulseper second signal component, and the time-of-day signal component. Insome examples, the signal drift includes a drift of the pulse per secondsignal component and a drift of the frequency signal component. Theselector circuit may determine the signal quality of a signal based on atotal drift of a signal, the frequency drift of a signal, the pulse persecond drift of the signal, and a function of the frequency drift andthe pulse per second drift of the signal. The phase precision mayinclude an offline measurement and an online measurement. The offlinemeasurement is a measurement of a propagation delay of the pulse persecond component of the global positioning system signal between theglobal positioning system receiver and the selector circuit. The onlinemeasurement is a measurement of a relative phase offset of the pulse persecond signal component, the relative phase offset determined based on areference pulse per second reference signal. In some examples, thereference signal is the received pulse per second signal componentreceived at the selector circuit or a signal generated by ahigh-precision high-frequency oscillator. The selector circuit maydetermine the phase precision of the signal based on the online andoffline measurements. Moreover, the selector circuit may determine thesignal quality score based on a function for determining the signalquality score and a convergence of a phase accuracy of the pulse persecond signal component (determined based on the phase precision signaland a median value of the received pulse per second signal component).

In some implementations, the selector circuit iterates through each ofthe global positioning system signals from global positioning systemreceivers. For each iteration, the selector circuit requests andreceives from the receiver circuit a primary signal that includes acurrently selected global positioning system signal having the highestsignal quality score and a secondary signal including the globalpositioning system signal of the corresponding iteration. Afteriterating through all of the global positioning system signals fromglobal positioning system receivers, the selector circuit determines thesignal quality score of each received signal based on a signal drift anda phase precision of the corresponding signal and selects the globalpositioning system signal having the highest signal quality score as theprimary signal. The selector circuit may request and receive from thereceiver circuit a source identification of the primary signal and asource identification of the secondary signal. Moreover, when theselector circuit receives a primary signal source identification fromthe receiver circuit not matching a source identification of thecurrently selected global positioning system signal, the selectorcircuit triggers an error in the system. In some examples, the receivercircuit includes multiple output pins and one bi-directional pin, andthe selector circuit includes an equal number of input pins as outputpins of the receiver circuit and one bi-directional pin. The output pinsof the receiver circuit are in communication with the correspondinginput pins of the selector circuit, and the bi-directional pin of thereceiver circuit is in communication with the bi-directional pin of theselector circuit. When the receiver circuit receives a rising edge of apulse per second signal component of the global positioning systemsignal, the receiver circuit sets its bi-directional pin to an outputpin outputting an identification of the primary signal and optionallythe secondary signal. In addition, when the receiver circuit receives afalling edge of the pulse per second signal component of the globalpositioning system signal, the receiver circuit sets its bi-directionalpin to an input pin and receives the primary signal sourceidentification and the secondary signal source identification from theselector circuit. When the selector circuit receives a rising edge ofthe pulse per second signal component of the global positioning systemsignal, the selector circuit sets its bi-directional pin to an input pinand receives the primary source identification and optionally thesecondary signal source identification from the receiver circuit.Moreover, when the selector circuit receives a falling edge of the pulseper second signal component of the global positioning system signal, theselector circuit sets its bi-directional pin to an output pin, andoutputs the primary signal source identification and the secondarysignal source identification. In some implementations, when the receivercircuit receives a falling edge of the pulse per second signal componentof the global positioning system signal, the receiver circuit changessources of global positioning system signals for the primary andsecondary signals to sources corresponding to the received primarysignal source identification and the received secondary signal sourceidentification. Moreover, when the selector circuit receives a risingedge of the pulse per second signal component of the global positioningsystem signal, the selector circuit compares the primary signal sourceidentification received from the receiver circuit with the primarysignal source identification outputted to the replicator after theprevious falling edge of the pulse per second signal component andtriggers an error in the system when the primary signal sourceidentifications do not match. In some examples, the receiver circuit andthe selector circuit are on a system-on-chip, or many other types ofdevices.

In some implementations, the system further includes a replicator thatreceives and replicates global positioning system signals from globalpositioning system receivers. The global positioning system receiversreceive the global positioning system signals from corresponding globalpositioning system satellites. The system also includes multipleselector circuits in communication with the replicator, each selectorcircuit receives from the replicator a global positioning system signalfrom each global positioning system receiver, determines a signalquality score of each received signal based on a signal drift and aphase precision of the corresponding signal, and selects one of thereceived GPS signals having the highest signal quality score. Moreover,the line card uses a time of day component of the selected signal havingthe highest quality score.

Another aspect of the disclosure provides a signal distribution systemthat includes global positioning system receivers, optical lineterminals, and a system manager. Each global positioning system receiverreceives a global positioning system signal from a corresponding globalpositioning system satellite. The optical line terminals are incommunication with the global positioning system receivers. In someimplementations, each optical line terminal includes one or moremanagement cards for each global positioning system receiver incommunication with the optical line terminal. The management cardreceives a global positioning system signal from a corresponding globalpositioning system receiver. Each optical line terminal also includes aline card collocated for each management card in the optical lineterminal. Each line card receives a global positioning system signalfrom each management card in the optical line terminal and determines asignal drift and a phase precision for each global positioning systemsignal. The system manager executes on a data processing device incommunication with the global positioning system receivers and theoptical line terminals. The system manager receives a failurecommunication for a global positioning system signal from a line cardwhen the signal drift of the global positioning system signal is above athreshold signal drift or the phase precision of the global positioningsystem signal is below a threshold phase precision. Moreover, the systemmanager identifies a failure location of the global positioning systemsignal within the system based on one or more received failurecommunications.

Implementations of the disclosure may include one or more of thefollowing features. In some implementations, the system manageridentifies a management card of an optical line terminal as a failurelocation when every line card of that optical line terminal identifies afailure of a global positioning system signal while other line cards ofother optical line terminals do not identify a failure of that globalpositioning system signal. Additionally or alternatively, in someexamples, the system manager identifies a global positioning systemreceiver as a failure location when the line cards of every optical lineterminal identifies a failure of a global positioning system signalwhile at least some of the line cards of the optical line terminals donot identify a failure of a global positioning system signal fromanother global positioning system receiver.

In some examples, the global positioning system receivers, themanagement cards, and the line cards each include a replicator. Thereplicator of each global positioning system receiver receives a globalpositioning system signal from its corresponding global positioningsystem satellite and replicates the received global positioning systemsignal for communication to the corresponding management card in eachoptical line terminal. The replicator of each management card receives aglobal positioning system signal from its corresponding globalpositioning system receiver and replicates the received globalpositioning system signal for communication to each line card in theoptical line terminal. Moreover, the replicator of each line cardreceives global positioning system signals from each of the managementcards of the optical line terminal and replicates the received globalpositioning system signals. Each line card includes multiple analyzercircuits, each receiving the replicated global positioning systemsignals from the replicator of the line card. In addition each analyzercircuit determines the signal drift and the phase precision for eachglobal positioning system signal, compares the signal drift of eachglobal positioning system signal with the threshold signal drift,compares the phase precision of each global positioning system signalwith the threshold phase precision, and determines a failure of theglobal positioning system signal when the signal drift of the globalpositioning system signal is above the threshold signal drift or thephase precision of the global positioning system signal is below thethreshold phase precision. In some examples, the system manageridentifies an analyzer circuit as a failure location when that analyzercircuit identifies a failure of a global positioning system signal whileother analyzer circuits do not identify a failure of that globalpositioning system signal. The system manager may identify an analyzercircuit as a failure location when that analyzer circuit identifies afailure of a global positioning system signal while all or astatistically significant number of other analyzer circuits do notidentify a failure of that global positioning system signal. Moreover,the system manager may identify the replicator of a line card as afailure location when the analyzer circuits of that line card eachidentify a failure of a global positioning system signal while otheranalyzer circuits of other line cards of the same optical line terminaldo not identify a failure of that global positioning system signal.

In some implementations, the system manager identifies the replicator ofa management card of an optical line terminal as a failure location whenthe analyzer circuits of every line card of that optical line terminalidentifies a failure of a global positioning system signal while otheranalyzer circuits of other optical line terminals do not identify afailure of that global positioning system signal. Additionally oralternatively, the system manager identifies the replicator of a globalpositioning system receiver as a failure location when the analyzercircuits of every optical line terminal identifies a failure of a globalpositioning system signal while at least some of the analyzer circuitsof the optical line terminals do not identify a failure of a globalpositioning system signal from another global positioning systemreceiver.

Each global positioning system signal includes a frequency signalcomponent, a pulse per second signal component, and a time-of-daycomponent. The signal drift includes a drift of the pulse per secondsignal component and a drift of the frequency signal component. The linecard may determine the signal drift of a signal based on a total driftof a signal, the frequency drift of the signal, the pulse per seconddrift of the signal, and a function of the frequency drift and the pulseper second drift of the signal.

The phase precision includes an online measurement and an offlinemeasurement. The offline measurement is a measurement of a propagationdelay of the pulse per second component of the global positioning systemsignal between the global positioning system receiver and the analyzercircuit; while the online measurement is a measurement of a relativephase offset of the pulse per second signal component. The relativephase offset is determined based on a reference pulse per secondreference signal. The reference signal may be the received pulse persecond signal component received at the analyzer circuit or a signalgenerated by a high-precision high-frequency oscillator. In someexamples, the line card determines the phase precision of the signalbased on the online and offline measurements.

Another aspect of the disclosure provides a method that includesreceiving a failure communication for a global positioning system signalfrom a signal distribution system when the signal drift of the globalpositioning system signal is above a threshold signal drift or the phaseprecision of the global positioning system signal is below a thresholdphase precision. The signal distribution system includes globalpositioning system receivers and optical line terminals. Each globalpositioning system receiver receives a global positioning system signalfrom a corresponding global positioning system satellite. The opticalline terminals are in communication with the global positioning systemreceivers. Each optical line terminal includes a management card and aline card collocated for each management card in the optical lineterminal. The management card for each global positioning systemreceiver is in communication with the optical line terminal. Themanagement card receives a global positioning system signal from acorresponding global positioning system receiver. Each line cardreceives a global positioning system signal from each management card inthe optical line terminal and determines a signal drift and a phaseprecision for each global positioning system signal. The method alsoincludes identifying a failure location of the global positioning systemsignal within the system based on one or more received failurecommunications.

In some implementations, the method includes identifying a line card asa failure location when the line card identifies a failure of a globalpositioning system signal while other line cards of the same opticalline terminal do not identify a failure of the global positioning systemsignal. Additionally or alternatively, the method may includeidentifying a management card of an optical line terminal as a failurelocation when every line card of that optical line terminal identifies afailure of a global positioning system signal while other line cards ofother optical line terminals do not identify a failure of that globalpositioning system signal. The method may include identifying a globalpositioning system receiver as a failure location when the line cards ofevery optical line terminal identifies a failure of a global positioningsystem signal while at least some of the line cards of the optical lineterminals do not identify a failure of a global positioning systemsignal from another global positioning system receiver.

In some implementations, the global positioning system receivers, themanagement cards, and the line cards each include a replicator. Thereplicator of each global positioning system receiver receives a globalpositioning system signal from its corresponding global positioningsystem satellite and replicates the received global positioning systemsignal for communication to the corresponding management card in eachoptical line terminal. The replicator of each management card receives aglobal positioning system signal from its corresponding globalpositioning system receiver and replicates the received globalpositioning system signal for communication to each line card in theoptical line terminal. The replicator of each line card receives globalpositioning system signals from each of the management cards of theoptical line terminal and replicates the received global positioningsystem signals. Each line card includes multiple analyzer circuits, eachreceiving the replicated global positioning system signals from thereplicator of the line card. Moreover, each analyzer circuit maydetermine the signal drift and the phase precision for each globalpositioning system signal, compare the signal drift of each globalpositioning system signal with the threshold signal drift, compare thephase precision of each global positioning system signal with thethreshold phase precision, and determine a failure of the globalpositioning system signal when the signal drift of the globalpositioning system signal is above the threshold signal drift or thephase precision of the global positioning system signal is below thethreshold phase precision. The method may further include identifying ananalyzer circuit as a failure location when that analyzer circuitidentifies a failure of a global positioning system signal while otheranalyzer circuits do not identify a failure of that global positioningsystem signal.

The method may include identifying the replicator of a line card as afailure location when the analyzer circuits of that line card eachidentify a failure of a global positioning system signal while otheranalyzer circuits of other line cards of the same optical line terminaldo not identify a failure of that global positioning system signal.Additionally or alternatively, the method may include identifying thereplicator of a management card of an optical line terminal as a failurelocation when the analyzer circuits of every line card of that opticalline terminal identifies a failure of a global positioning system signalwhile other analyzer circuits of other optical line terminals do notidentify a failure of that global positioning system signal.Furthermore, additionally or alternatively, the method may includeidentifying the replicator of a global positioning system receiver as afailure location when the analyzer circuits of every optical lineterminal identifies a failure of a global positioning system signalwhile at least some of the analyzer circuits of the optical lineterminals do not identify a failure of a global positioning systemsignal from another global positioning system receiver.

In some examples, each global positioning system signal includes afrequency signal component, a pulse per second signal component, and thetime-of-day component, the signal drift including a drift of the pulseper second signal component and a drift of the frequency signalcomponent. The method may include determining the signal drift of asignal. Moreover, the phase precision may include an offline measurementand an online measurement. The offline measurement is a measurement of apropagation delay of a pulse per second component of the globalpositioning system signal between the global positioning system receiverand the analyzer circuit. The online measurement is a measurement of arelative phase offset of the pulse per second signal component, therelative phase offset determined based on a reference pulse per secondreference signal. The reference signal is the received pulse per secondsignal component received at the analyzer circuit or a signal generatedby a high-precision high-frequency oscillator. The method may includedetermining the phase precision of the signal based on the offline andonline measurements.

Yet another aspect of the disclosure provides a method that includes,for each optical line terminal in a signal distribution system,receiving a global positioning system signal from each globalpositioning system receiver in the signal distribution system at acorresponding management card of the optical line terminal. The methodalso includes, for each line card of each optical line terminalreceiving a global positioning system signal from each management cardin the optical line terminal and determining a signal drift and a phaseprecision for each global positioning system signal. When the signaldrift of a global positioning system signal is above a threshold signaldrift or the phase precision of the global positioning system signal isbelow a threshold phase precision, the method includes identifying afailure location of the global positioning system signal within thesystem.

In some implementations, the method further includes identifying a linecard as a failure location when the line card identifies a failure of aglobal positioning system signal while other line cards of the sameoptical line terminal do not identify a failure of the globalpositioning system signal, identifying a management card of an opticalline terminal as a failure location when every line card of that opticalline terminal identifies a failure of a global positioning system signalwhile other line cards of other optical line terminals do not identify afailure of that global positioning system signal, and identifying aglobal positioning system receiver as a failure location when the linecards of every optical line terminal identifies a failure of a globalpositioning system signal while at least some of the line cards of theoptical line terminals do not identify a failure of a global positioningsystem signal from another global positioning system receiver.

The details of one or more implementations of the disclosure are setforth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Otheraspects, features, and advantages will be apparent from the descriptionand drawings, and from the claims.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1A and 1B are schematic views of an exemplary multi-source globalpositioning satellite distribution framework.

FIGS. 2A and 2B are schematic views of the multi-source globalpositioning satellite distribution framework of FIGS. 1A and 1B.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view an exemplary line card.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of an exemplary read/write selection based ona received signal of the replication component and the selector of FIG.3.

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of an exemplary arrangement of operations fordetermining a state of a replication device.

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of an exemplary arrangement of operations fordetermining a state of a selector.

FIG. 7 is a schematic view of an exemplary arrangement of operations fordetermining a signal quality score.

FIG. 8 is a schematic view of an exemplary arrangement of operations forselecting a signal from multiple signals received from a globalpositioning system receiver.

FIG. 9 is a schematic view of an exemplary arrangement of operations fora diagnostic method for locating signal distribution failures.

FIG. 10 is a schematic view of an exemplary arrangement of operationsfor a diagnostic method for locating signal distribution failures.

Like reference symbols in the various drawings indicate like elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A communication network generally needs precision timing; therefore, theclocks of its individual devices should be synchronized. Clocksynchronizing allows for synchronizing multiple devices or multiplecommunication networks, which leads to facilitating inter-networkhandoff of data. Accurate time becomes increasingly important with thesurge of wireless application, such as 4G/LTE that include, for example,femtocell or picocell. LTE (Long-Term Evolution, also known as 4G LTE)is a wireless communication standard for high-speed data for mobilephones and data terminals. LTE networks utilize improved digital signalprocessing techniques and modulations to increase the capacity and speedof wireless data networks. Femtocell and picocell are small cells thatprovide in-building and outdoor wireless service that allows a providerto extend its service coverage and/or increase network capacity.Therefore, communication service providers are constantly consideringways to maintain the time accuracy of their ever expanding network, toultimately distribute very accurate time information over an Ethernet(e.g., gigabit) infrastructure to remote residential houses.

Referring to FIGS. 1A and 1B, in some implementations, the communicationnetwork 10 includes a Global Positioning System (GPS) 12 that includessatellites 14 configured to communicate with one another and with GPSreceivers 100. The GPS 12 provides location and time information to theGPS receivers 100 (via antenna data 16) as long as there is anunobstructed line of sight between more than one satellite 14 and thereceiver 100 (e.g., at least three satellites 14 and the receiver 100).Communication networks 10 (signal distribution systems) use the timeprovided by the GPS 12 to synchronize all of their devices (such as, butnot limited to, the central offices (CO) 200, remote nodes 120, end userdevices 300) and transmit accurate time to its end users 302.

In some implementations, the GPS receiver 100 is in communication withat least three satellites 14 within the GPS 12. The satellites 14transmit information to the GPS receivers 100 while orbiting the earth(e.g., twice a day) in a precise orbit. The GPS receiver 100 comparesthe time that the satellite 14 transmitted antenna data 16 with the timethe GPS receiver 100 received the antenna data 16. The time differenceis indicative of the distance that the satellite 14 is from the GPSreceiver 100. The antenna data 16 that the GPS satellite 14 transmits tothe GPS receiver 100 may include a pseudorandom code, ephemeris data,and almanac data. The pseudorandom code includes an identification thatidentifies which satellite 14 is transmitting the antenna data 16. Theephemeris data includes the status of the satellite 14 and the currentdate and time. Finally, the almanac data includes information relatingto the position of each GPS satellite 14 at any time throughout eachday. In some examples, each satellite 14 transmits almanac data thatincludes information relating to the satellite 14 and other satellites14 within the system 12. Moreover, each antenna data 16 includes asource identification that identifies a GPS satellite 14 that is sendingthe antenna data 16, i.e., the source of the signal 30. The GPS receiver100 converts the received antenna data 16 to a signal 30 beforetransmitting the signal 30.

GPS 12 is beneficial for determining the time because it is capable ofdistributing antenna data 16 to a wide area (e.g., GPS 12 includesmultiple satellites 14), and the path delay between a satellite-basedtransmitter and a ground-based GPS receiver 100 is usually more stableand is more accurately modeled than the corresponding delay between thestations of a purely ground-based system. Therefore, it is desirable toprovide a communication network 10 capable of supporting thenext-generation 4G/LTE wireless applications and capable of distributingaccurate time information over gigabit Ethernet infrastructure to endusers 302 (e.g., remote residential houses, buildings, or businesses)connected to the communication network 10 via an endpoint device 202(e.g., optical line terminal (OLT)). A device endpoint 202 may be anydevice that is the endpoint at the CO 200 of the optical network.Moreover, it is desirable to provide a scalable communication system 10capable of expanding to support more users 302. Specifically, it isdesirable to provide a communication system 10 capable of expanding tosupport a scalable OLT 202 having an increasing number of managementcards (MCs) 210. The communication system 10 receives signals 30 frommultiple GPS receivers 100 for redundancy, provides a selection methodfor selecting the most accurate signal 30 received (e.g., time) from themultiple GPS receivers 100, and determines which GPS receiver 100 isproviding the most accurate time. Furthermore, it is also desirable toprovide a communication system 10 capable of configuring its components(e.g., in real time) to determine which component within itsdistribution system experiences a failed condition. The communicationsystem 10 provides a cascaded GPS signal distribution framework thatdelivers phase and frequency information to a scalable number of devicesat the endpoint device 202, such as MCs 210 and line cards (LCs) 220 inan OLT 202. In some examples, the endpoint device 202 includes MCs 210only or LCs 220 only, a combination of other devices performing the samefunction.

Referring to FIGS. 1A and 1B, a central office (CO) 200 receivesinformation, such as video media distribution 22, internet data 24, andvoice data 26 that is transferred to the end users 302. The CO 200includes an OLT 202 connecting the optical access network to an IP, ATM,or SONET backbone, for example. Therefore, the OLT 202 device is theendpoint of a Passive Optical Network (PON) 18 and converts theelectrical signals used by a service provider's equipment to fiber opticsignals used by the PON 18. In addition, the OLT 202 coordinatesmultiplexing between the conversion devices at the user end 302. The OLT202 sends the fiber optic signal through a feeder fiber 20, and thefiber optic signal is received by a remote node 120, which demultiplexesthe fiber optic signal and distributes it to multiple users 302.Moreover, the CO 200 communicates with one or more GPS receivers 100 a-nand receives the satellite signal 30 via the satellite receiver 100.

A multiplexer (MUX) combines several input signals and outputs acombined signal of the separate signals. The multiplexed signal istransmitted through a physical wire, which saves the cost of havingmultiple wires for each signal. As shown in FIG. 1B, the CO 200multiplexes the signals received from several sources, such as videomedia distribution 22, internet data 24, and voice data 26, andmultiplexes the received signals into one multiplexed signal beforesending the multiplexed signal to the remote node 120 through the feederfiber 20. The remote node 120 splits the signal received from the CO 200and distributes the split signal to multiple Optical Network Units(ONUs) 300 a-300 n via fiber feeders 22 a-22 n. On the end user 302side, a reverse process occurs using a demultiplexer (DEMUX) at each ONU300. The demultiplexer receives the multiplexed signal and divides itinto the separate original signals that were originally combined. Thereceiver end includes a number of network units/terminals (ONUs) 300,where each ONU services at least one user 302.

Each OLT 202 includes multiple MCs 210 and multiple LCs 220 to serve avery large number of residential (and non-residential) end users 302.The MC 210 allows the communication system 10 to monitor and manage thedevices (e.g., OLT 202, ONU 300, remote node 120) of the communicationsystem 10. A LC 220, also known as a digital LC, is a modular electroniccircuit on a printed circuit board (PCB) that interfaces withtelecommunications access networks and connects subscribers 302 to theirservice provider, i.e., OLT 202. Each GPS receiver 100 includes areplication component 110. Also, each management card 210 includes areplication component 212 (FIGS. 2A and 2B); and each LC 220 includes areplication component 222 and at least one selector 224 (such as a timesystem on a chip or a circuit) (FIGS. 2A and 2B). A system on a chip(SoC) 224 is an integrated circuit that includes components of acomputer into a single chip. The selector 224 is configured to run aprogram; in this case, the selector 224 is a time SoC configured todetermine the time based on the received signals (pulse-per-second (PPS)signal, time-of-day (TOD) signal, and frequency (FREQ) signal).

The communication network 10 may also include a management server 400(system manager). The management server 400 executes on a dataprocessing device 402 in communication with the GPS receivers 100 andthe OLTs 202. The system manager 400 is configured to monitor the OLTs202 (e.g., MCs 210, LC 220, selector 224, replication devices 212, 222,110) to determine a presence of a failure within the communicationnetwork 10.

Referring to FIGS. 2A and 2B, a first OLT 202 a and a second OLT 202 bare each in communication with first, second and third satellitereceivers 100 a, 100 b, 100 c. Each GPS receiver 100, 100 a-100 n sendsa signal to each of the MCs 210 of an OLT 202. If there are N number ofMCs 210 in an OLT 202, there are be N GPS receivers 100 in the network10. For example, as shown, the first OLT 202 a includes three MCs 210aa, 210 ab, 210 ac and the second OLT 202 b also includes three MCs 210ba, 210 bb, 210 bc. Each MC 210 a, 210 b of the first and second OLT 202a, 202 b is in communication with the GPS receiver 100. For example, thefirst GPS receiver 100 a is in communication with the first MC 210 aa ofthe first OLT 202 a; also the first GPS receiver 100 a is incommunication with the first MC 210 ba of the second OLT 202 b. Thesecond GPS receiver 100 b is in communication with the second MC 210 abof the first OLT 202 a; also the second GPS receiver 100 b is incommunication with the second MC 210 bb of the second OLT 202 b. Thethird GPS receiver 100 c is in communication with the third MC 210 ac ofthe first OLT 202 a; also the third GPS receiver 100 c is incommunication with the third MC 210 bc of the second OLT 202 b.Therefore, each MC 210 of an OLT 202 received a signal from a differentGPS receiver 100.

To minimize the number of GPS receivers 100 within the communicationnetwork 10 and provide a unified quality of service, GPS signals 30 fromeach GPS receiver 100 are distributed to every MC 210 and subsequentlyto every LC 220 within each OLT 202. Moreover, each OLT 202 within thecommunication network 10 is accessible to time sources from multiple GPSreceivers 100. Although this adds redundancy to the network 10, itprotects the network 10 from failures and offers consistent and reliableservice levels. For example, if one of the GPS receivers 100 that issending a signal 30 to an OLT 202 fails, the OLT 202 can still determinean accurate time since it is receiving signals 30 from other GPSreceivers 100. This network 10 architecture is an improvement over theprevious systems, where a GPS receiver 100 fails to send a time signalto the OLTs 202, then the OLTs 202 fail to send a time to the end user302. The communication network 10 allows the OLT 202 to determine whichGPS receiver 100 has a highest quality and use that GPS receiver 100 asopposed to using a GPS receiver 100 that is undergoing a failure and isnot providing accurate time.

Since each OLT 202 receives multiple signals from different GPSreceivers 100, each OLT 202 includes a decision policy configured toselect one of the GPS receivers 100 transmitting a signal 30 with thebest signal integrity and precision and having a signal quality thatmeets a threshold. Several factors affect the quality of a GPS signal 30transmitted from the GPS receiver 100 to OLTs 202 (i.e., MCs 210 and LCs220 of the OLTs 202). Some of the factors that affect the quality of theGPS signal 30 include the difference in the quality of the GPS receivers100, the degradation of the GPS signal 30 during its distribution overintermediate components of the OLT 202. Therefore, this cascadeddistribution network 10, which includes multiple GPS receivers 100 andmultiple OLTs 202, where each OLT 202 may be equipped with multiple MC's210 and LCs 220, provides reliability (due to the multiple GPS signals30 received by each OLT 202), while the hierarchical replicationcomponents provide network scalability (allowing the network 10 toincrease with the increase in user demand).

The GPS signal 30 that the GPS receiver 100 sends to the OLT 202includes a Pulse Per Second (PPS) signal, a time of day (TOD) signal,and a frequency (FREQ) signal. The PPS signal is an electrical signalthat repeats once per second. A PPS signal has an accuracy going from a12 picoseconds to a few microseconds per second (2.0 nanoseconds to afew milliseconds per day). The TOD signal represents the current time ofday. The FREQ signal represents the frequency of the signals.

Each GPS receiver 100 includes a GPS replication device 110. The GPSreplication device 110 of each GPS receiver 100 may be a part of the GPSreceiver 100 or a standalone device 110, positioned adjacent to the GPSreceiver 110. The GPS replication device 110 of the GPS receiver 100replicates the GPS signal 30 (received from a satellite 14), whichincludes replicating the PPS signal, the TOD signal, and the FREQsignal. The GPS replication device 110 of the GPS receiver 100replicates the GPS signal 30 into one or more replicated GPS signals 30,and each replicated signal 30 is transmitted to multiple OLTs 202 (e.g.,MC's 210). If there are X number of OLTs 202, then each GPS receiver 100makes X replicas S_(nn) of the GPS signal 30. As shown, the replicationcomponent 110 of the GPS receiver 100 makes first and second replicasS_(aa), S_(ba), because there are two OLTs 202 a, 202 b. Similarly, thesecond GPS receiver 100 b makes first and second replicas S_(ab),S_(bb), and the third GPS receiver 100 c makes first and second replicasS_(ac), S_(bc).

Moreover, each MC 210 includes an MC replication device 212, whichreceives GPS replicated signals 30 having a PPS signal, a TOD signal,and a FREQ signal, and distributes the GPS replicated signal 30 to eachLC 220 of the OLT 202. For example, the first MC 210 aa, MC 210 ba ofthe first OLT 202 a, 202 b receive a GPS replicated signal S_(aa),S_(ba) from the first GPS receiver 100 a. The first MC 210 aa, MC 210 bareplicates the received GPS replicated signal S_(aa), S_(ba) and sendsthe replicated signal S_(aa), S_(ba) to first, second, and third LCs 220a, 220 b of the OLT 202 a, 202 b. The second MC 220 ab, MC 220 bbreplicates the received GPS replicated signal S_(ab), S_(bb) and sendsthe replicated signal S_(ab), S_(ba) to first, second, and third LCs 220a, 220 b of the OLT 202 a, 202 b. The third MC 220 ac, MC 210 bcreplicates the received GPS replicated signal S_(ac), S_(bc) and sendsthe replicated signal S_(ac), S_(bc) to first, second, and third LCs 220a, 220 b of the OLT 202 a, 202 b. The MC replication device 212 makesequal replications as to the number of LCs 220 of the OLT 202, e.g., ifthe OLT 202 includes three LCs 220, then each MC replication device 212makes three replicated signals S_(aa), S_(ab), S_(ac), S_(ba), S_(bb),S_(bc), (see FIGS. 2A, 2B) of the received GPS signal 30.

Each LC 220 includes an LC replication device 222. The LC replicationdevice 222 receives GPS replicated signals 30 (including a PPS signal, aTOD signal, and a FREQ signal) from different collocated MCs 210, i.e.,different GPS receivers 100. The LC replication device 222 selects andreplicates one or more GPS signals (sets of PPS signals, TOD signals,and frequency signals) and sends them to different selectors 224.

Each LC 220 includes multiple selectors 224 implemented in parallel tosupport computation parallelization, which guarantees sufficientcomputation resources when the number of customers scale (i.e., increaseor decrease). The selector 224 converts the GPS signals 30 to supportIEEE-1588 PTP or SyncE. IEEE-1588 PTP is the protocol for synchronizingtime and frequency clocks throughout the computer network; while SyncEis an International Telecommunication Union standard to deliverysynchronous frequency information over the Ethernet. Each LC 220 (e.g.,selector 224) receives the GPS signal 30 from each MC 210 of the OLT 202and determines a signal quality score S of each signal 30 from areceiver 100 based on a signal drift and a phase precision of thecorresponding signal 30. In addition, the LC 220 (e.g., selector 224)selects one of the received GPS signals 30 (Pulse Per Second (PPS)signal, a time of day (TOD) signal, and a frequency (FREQ) signal)having the highest quality score; i.e., the LC 220 (e.g., selector 224)determines the signal 30 having the highest quality score and uses theTOD signal of the corresponding signal 30 that has the highest signalquality score S. In some examples, each LC 220 includes a number ofselectors 224 equal or greater than the number of GPS receivers 100.

In some implementations, the replication device 110, 212, 222 may beimplemented by a fan-out buffer or by a field programmable gate array(FPGA). Other implementations of a replication device 110, 212, 222 arepossible as well, such as any programmable or application specificdevice. A fan-out buffer is used as a building block in the clock tree,since it provides signal buffering in multiple low-skew copies of theinput signal 30. An FPGA is an integrated circuit capable of beingconfigured by the user after its manufacturing. In some examples, thereplication device 110, 212, 222 replicates the received GPS signal 30and simultaneously sends the replicated signals 30. In other examples,the replication device 110, 212, 222 receives a signal 30 and sends itto a first recipient, then the second and so forth. For example, thefirst MC 210 receives the GPS signal 30 and sends it iteratively to thefirst, second and third LC 220.

A user may specifically configure the FPGA to replicate the receivedsignal 30. The replication devices 110, 212, 222 may cause jitter andpart-to-part skews that may affect a phase and frequency precision ofthe GPS signals 30. Therefore, it is desirable to configure each OLT 202to select the best received GPS signal 30. Moreover, hardware componentsmay fail due to various reasons like aging, and overheating, or anyother effects. Therefore, it is also beneficial and desirable to allowthe communication network 10 to perform an online diagnostics method tolocate the source of failures in real time, during mass deployment. Themanagement server 400 oversees the diagnostics method.

In some examples, the OLT 202 receives the GPS signal 30 from the GPSreceiver 100 at a receiver circuit, which may be part of the selector224, or part of the replicators 110, 212, 222 or part of both. Eachselector circuit 224 on an LC 220 may be exposed to multiple GPS signals30, each having PPS/TOD/FREQ signals from different GPS receivers 100,aggregated at the LC replication device 222. For example, the LCreplication device 222 of the first LC 220 a receives GPS signals 30from first, second, and third GPS receivers 100 a, 100 b, 100 c receivedfrom the first, second, and third MCs 210 a, 210 b, 210 c. Therefore, apolicy or algorithm is used to decide the master GPS receiver 100 thatcarries the most accurate phase (PPS) and frequency information (FREQ).In addition, a selector 224 may be accessible to limited sets of GPSsignals 30 at a time due to constrained availability of GPS input pinson the chip (discussed below with reference to FIG. 3). Therefore, it isdesirable to have a GPS receiver selection algorithm, and a GPSselection communication protocol to reduce the input pin overhead on thesame selector 224.

In some implementations, a selector 224 (selector circuit) can access NGPS receivers 100 (from N MCs 210). A GPS signal 30 may experience afrequency drift J, which is an unintended and arbitrary offset of thesignal 30 from its nominal frequency. Frequency drift J may be due toaging of a component, changes in temperature of the component, orproblems with a voltage regulator controlling a bias voltage of anoscillator. Therefore, a frequency drift of the GPS signals 30 may bedue to the GPS signal receiver 100 and/or to the replication devices110, 212, 222 during the cascaded distribution.

Consider J₁ ^(F), J₂ ^(F), . . . , J_(N) ^(F) as the frequency drifts ofthe N frequency signals and J₁ ^(P), J₂ ^(P), . . . , J_(N) ^(P) as thefrequency drifts of the N PPS signals. The frequency drift value of aperiodic signal may be measured at the selector 224, by using anexternal high-precision high-frequency oscillator (e.g., OCXO). Thehigh-precision high-frequency oscillator ensures a precise frequencyunder demanding circumstances. The frequency drift value of the periodicsignal (PPS) directly affects the stability of frequency information ofthe GPS receiver 100. A closed form function g_(J) may be used torepresent the combined impact of the frequency signal and the PPSsignal. The combined result is J, as shown in the equation below:J _(i) =g _(J)(J _(i) ^(F) ,J _(i) ^(P))  (1)

Different GPS receivers 100 may also have a phase skew in their PPSsignal. For example, the phase skew may equal 100 nanoseconds in the PPSsignals. To determine the phase precision of the GPS receiver 100,consider D₁ ^(P), D₂ ^(P), . . . , D_(N) ^(P) as an offline measurementof the propagation delay of the N PPS signals between the GPS receiveroutput and selector input. Also consider D₁ ^(R), D₂ ^(R), . . . , D_(N)^(R) to be the online measurement of the relative phase offset of the NPPS signals, as compared to a reference PPS signal. The reference PPSsignal may be one of the N PPS signals or a test PPS signal generated atthe selector 224 based on the high-precision high-frequency oscillator.In order to consider both the offline measurement of the propagationdelay D_(i) ^(F) and the online measurement of the relative phase offsetof the N PPS signals D_(i) ^(R), D is defined as:D _(i) =D _(i) ^(P) −D _(i) ^(R)  (2)

Assuming D^(m) is the median value of {D_(i)} and define a convergenceof the phase accuracy of the PPS signal ΔD as:ΔD _(i) =|D _(i) −D ^(m)|  (3)

The signals 30 considered for the phase and frequency precision are thePPS signal and the frequency signal of the GPS receiver 100. The TODsignal does not affect phase and frequency precision, as long as eachTOD packet arrives at the selector 224 within one second of thecorresponding PPS pulse.

The overall quality score S of the GPS receivers 100 may be determinedby taking into account both the frequency stability J and the phaseaccuracy AD. Therefore, the overall GPS signal quality may berepresented by function g_(s) by:S _(i) =g _(s)(ΔD _(i) ,J _(i))  (4)

Based on the above algorithms, the selector 224 selects the GPS signal30 with the best quality score S as the master source, i.e., thereceiver 100 with the most accurate time. Therefore, after determiningthe signal quality score S of each received signal 30, the LC 220associates a source identification with the determined signal qualityscore S and stores the signal quality score S and the associated sourceidentification in non-transitory memory (not shown). The LC 220 selectsthe source identification associated with the received signal 30 havingthe highest signal quality score S.

In some implementations, and due to limited availability of GPS inputpins on the selector 224, the LC replication device 222 may only selectand send a subset of GPS clock sources to the selector 224 at a time. Aspreviously described, the LC replication device 222 selects andreplicates one or more GPS signals 30 and sends the replicated signals30 to different selectors 224.

The selector 224 receives multiple GPS signals 30 from multiple GPSreceivers 100. The selector 224 selects a primary GPS signal 30 from oneGPS receiver 100 and iterates through each of the GPS signals {S_(aa),S_(ab), S_(ac)} or {S_(ba), S_(bb), S_(bc)} of the rest of the GPSreceivers 100. For each iteration, the selector 224 requests andreceives from the receiver circuit a primary signal 30 being a currentlyselected GPS signal {S_(aa), S_(ab), S_(ac)} or {S_(ba), S_(bb), S_(bc)}with the highest signal quality score S and the secondary signal 30being the GPS signal 30 of the corresponding iterations. Since TOD doesnot affect the selection of the GPS receiver 100 (having the highestsignal quality score S), the TOD signal from the secondary GPS receiveris not considered (also due to a limited number of pins, in some cases).Therefore, the selector 224 may spend several minutes on each secondaryGPS source 100 and switch to the next source after timeout, by sendingnew request instructions to the LC replication device 222 (or otherreplication devices 110, 210). Once an iteration of all GPS sources iscomplete, the selector 224 performs the best GPS source selectionalgorithm and recalculates the best GPS source ID as the primary input.Thus, after the selector 224 completes its iteration process through allof the GPS signals {S_(aa), S_(ab), S_(ac)} or {S_(ba), S_(bb), S_(bc)},the selector 224 determines the signal quality score of each of thereceived GPS signals {S_(aa), S_(ab), S_(ac)} or {S_(ba), S_(bb),S_(bc)} (as discussed above). The selector 224 requests and receivesfrom the receiver circuit the source identification of the primarysignal 30 and the source identification of the secondary signal 30. Whenthe selector 224 receives the primary signal source identification andthe received identification does not match a source identification ofthe currently selected GPS signal 30, then the selector 224 triggers anerror.

In some examples, an FPGA is used as the LC replication device 222.Referring to FIG. 3, the LC replication device 222 and the selector 224may each need six pins to perform the bilateral communication protocolbetween the two devices. Other numbers of pins are also available. Insome examples, the selector 224 is a time chip, a time system on a chip(time SoC), or a circuit. The time chip 224 receives a GPS signal andextracts the time and frequency information (TOD signal and FREQsignal), then converts the extracted signals to IEEE-1588 and SyncEpackets. The FPGA 222 includes five GPS signal output pins (pins 1through 5) and one GPIO (General Purpose Input Output) pins enabled. Thepins are: Primary (Master) PPS signal (output pin) P1; Primary (Master)FREQ signal (output pin) P2; Primary TOD signal (output pin) P3;Secondary PPS signal (output pin) P4; Secondary Freq signal (output pin)P5; and FPGA and time chip communication (GPIO pin) P6. Moreover, theselector 224 includes five GPS signal input pins and one GPIO pinenabled. The selector pins include: Primary (Master) PPS signal (inputpin) P1; Primary (Master) FREQ signal (input pin) P2; Primary TOD signal(input pin) P3; Secondary PPS signal (input pin) P4; Secondary FREQsignal (input pin) P5; and FPGA and time chip communication (GPIO pin)P6.

The communication channel between the FPGA and the time chip via pins P6is realized by time division duplex of the GPIO pins (FIG. 3).Time-division duplexing (TDD) is the application of time-divisionmultiplexing to separate outward and return signals. TDD emulates fullduplex communication over a half-duplex communication link. TDD isadvantageous in situations where there is a difference between theuplink and downlink data rates, since as the amount of uplink data isincreasing, more communication capacity can be dynamically allocated,and as the traffic load becomes lighter, the capacity may be taken away.Similar analysis applies for downlink. Therefore, a receiver circuit 230(which optionally includes the LC 220 and/or MCs 210) sets the PPSsignals to be with 50% duty cycle.

Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, when the receiver circuit 230 (whichoptionally includes the LC 220 and/or MCs 210) detects a rising edge ofthe primary signal at pin P1 of the selector 224, the GPIO pin on theFPGA 222 is set to be an output pin, while the GPIO pin P6 on theSelector 224 is set to be an input. In some examples, the FPGA 222 waitsa threshold time period before beginning communication signaltransmission at its GPIO output pin P6. The threshold time period allowsfor sufficient time for the selector 224 to switch its GPIO pin P6 froman input pin to an output pin before the transmission starts.

However, when the receiver circuit 230 detects the arrival of a fallingedge of the primary PPS signal, the GPIO pin P6 on the FPGA 222 is setto be an input pin, while GPIO pin P6 on the selector 224 is set to bean output. The selector 224 can start transmitting communication signalsimmediately once the selector GPIO pin flips P6.

When the sixth pin P6 of the FPGA 222 is an output pin, then the signalfrom FPGA 222 sent via the communication channel carries the currentprimary (and optionally the secondary) GPS source identification.However, when the sixth pin P6 of the selector 224 is an output pin,then the signal from the time selector 224, via the communicationchannel, carries the requested primary GPS source identification and therequested secondary GPS source identification.

FIG. 5 illustrates a method 500 of determining the state of the FPGA 222(replication device). At block 502, the edge of the primary PPS signalis received. At decision block 504, the receiver circuit 230 determinesif the received edge is a rising edge or a falling edge. If the receivercircuit 230 determines that the received edge is a rising edge, then atblock 506, the receiver circuit 230 sets GPIO P6 of the FPGA 222 to anoutput pin, then the receiver circuit 230 waits a threshold period atblock 508 before determining and advertising, at block 510, the primaryand optionally the secondary GPS source ID. Referring back to decisionblock 504, if the receiver circuit 230 determines that the received edgeis a falling edge, then at block 512 the receiver circuit 230 sets theGPIO pin P6 of the FPGA 222 to be an input pin, and then listens to theinput GPIO pin P6 at block 514, before extracting the primary andsecondary GPS identifications at block 516. At decision block 518, thereceiver circuit 230 determines if the OLT should change the GPS source(based on the signal analysis above). If the receiver circuit 230determines that the GPS source should be changed, then at block 520, thereceiver circuit 230 switches the GPS receiver 100 being used as thesource for the GPS signal and has a new primary source and a newsecondary source, at block 520.

The selector 224 receives multiple GPS signals 30 from multiple GPSreceivers 100. The selector 224 selects a primary GPS signal 30 from oneGPS receiver 100 and iterates and accesses different GPS receivers 100via the secondary PPS signal and the secondary frequency. Since TOD doesnot affect the selection of the GPS receiver 100, the TOD signal fromthe secondary GPS receiver 100 is not considered (also due to a limitednumber of pins, in some cases). Therefore, the selector 224 may spendseveral minutes on each secondary GPS source 100, and switch to the nextsource after timeout, by sending new request instructions to the FPGA222. Once an iteration of all GPS sources is complete, the selector 224performs the best GPS source selection algorithm, and recalculates thebest GPS source ID as the primary input.

FIG. 6 illustrates a method 600 of determining the state of the selector224. At block 602, the selector 224 receives the edge of the primary PPSsignal. The receiver circuit 230 determines at decision block 604 if theedge is a rising edge or a falling edge. If the receiver circuit 230determines that the edge is a rising edge, then at block 606 thereceiver circuit 230 sets the GPIO pin P6 of the selector 224 to be aninput pin, then at block 608 listens to input from the input GPIO pinP6. At block 610, the selector 224 extracts the primary GPSidentification ID. At decision block 612, the selector 224 determines ifthe primary GPS ID from block 610 matches a requested primary GPS ID,and if yes, the selector 224 goes to block 602. If the primary GPS IDfrom block 610 does not match the requested primary GPS ID, then theselector 224 triggers an error alert at block 614 and sends the alert toa remote management server 400 before going back to block 602.

Referring back to block 604, if the received primary PPS signal is afalling signal, then the selector 224 sets the GPIO pin P6 to an outputpin at block 616, and decides, at block 618, which GPS source is thenext secondary GPS source ID. At block 620, the selector 224 determinesif all GPS sources have been iterated, if so, then at block 622 the bestGPS source selection is determined using the selection algorithmsdescribed above. However, if not all the GP sources have been iterated,then at block 624, the selector 224 sends instruction signals via theGPIO pin P6 to the LC replication device 222 so that the LC replicationdevice 222 sends the primary and second GPS source IDs.

In some implementations, when the OLT 202 detects that the quality of aGPS signal 30 is less than a threshold quality or is worse than theother received GPS signals 30 (received from other GPS receivers 100),the OLT 202 triggers an alert to a remote management server 400, whichexecutes autonomous diagnostics on a data processing device 402 tolocalize the failed component(s) that is causing the reduced quality ofthe GPS signal 30. Such diagnosis may be autonomous and in real time.

The communication network 10 is configured to perform online diagnosticsto locate a failure of a GPS receiver 100 of the cascaded multi-sourceGPS distributed hierarchy. A GPS clock source may fail at a selector 224when its frequency drift J or its ΔD measured at the selector 224 isworse than a threshold (e.g., below or above the threshold).

Each selector 224 reports the failure condition to a remote centralserver in real time. The central server gathers all failure conditionsfrom all OLTs 202, performs diagnostics, and finds the failure location(i.e., GPS receiver 100, replication devices 110, 212, 222, or selector224 undergoing a failure) in real time.

The online diagnostics process finds a lowest common ancestor (LCA) ofthe hardware components (i.e., GPS receiver 100, replication devices110, 212, 222, or selector 224). The LCA is the unique node of greatestdepth that is an ancestor of every node in a nonempty set of notes in arooted tree.

Referring back to FIGS. 2A and 2B, the cascaded GPS distributionframework establishes a GPS distribution multi-root forest, where eachGPS receiver 100 including its replication devices (i.e., GPSreplication device 110) is a root node, each selector 224 is a leafnode, and each replication in the OLT 202 (i.e., MC replication device212 and LC replication device 222) is an intermediate node of theforest.

In some examples, based on FIGS. 2A and 2B, all the GPS clock sourcesfail at the first selector 224 a of the first LC 220 aa of the first OLT202 a, while the phase and frequency measurement returns good results atthe other selectors 224 b, 224 c, 224 d of the first LC 220 aa of thefirst OLT 202 a. The LCA node is the leaf node (failure node orlocation), which is the first selector 224 a of the first LC 220 aa ofthe first OLT 202 a.

Also considering FIGS. 2A and 2B, in some examples, all the GPS clocksources fail at the selectors 224 a, 224 b, 224 c, 224 d of the first LC220 aa of the first OLT 202 a, while the phase and frequencymeasurements return good results at other LCs 220 b, 220 c of the firstOLT 202 a. The LCA node (failure node or location) is the intermediatenode, which is the LC replication device 222 aa of the first LC 220 aaof the first OLT 202 a.

In another example, if the first GPS source 100 a fails at all theselectors 224 on all LCs 220 a of the first OLT 202 a, while phase andfrequency measurement of the first GPS source 100 a returns good resultson other OLT 202 b-202 n, then the LCA node (the failure location ornode) is the intermediate node, which is the MC replication device 212aa of the first MC 210 aa on the first OLT 202 a. In yet anotherexample, if the first GPS source 100 a fails at all the selectors 224across all OLTs 202, while phase and frequency measurement of other GPSsources 100 b, 100 c (e.g., GPS source 2, GPS source 3, . . . ) returnsgood results, then the LCA node, or in other words, the failurelocation, is the root node, which is either the first GPS receiver 100a, or its GPS replication component 110 a.

In some examples, more than one hardware component fails (100, 110, 210,212, 220, 222, 224) at the same time. To identify more than one LCA, thesystem 10 uses a Breadth First Search (BFS) based algorithm. The managerserver 400 first searches each root node (i.e., the GPS receivers 100and their corresponding replication components 110), and check whether aroot node is a LCA node. If a node is a LCA, then the manager server 400adds it to the failure location set. Once the manager server 400searches the root nodes, the manager server 400 searches the MCs 210 andtheir respective replication devices 212.

The following pseudocode provides an exemplary online diagnosticsalgorithm that runs on the management server 400:

function dia (R) // Input is the failure report set R, received at thecentral server F = {}; //Set F is initialized as an empty set l = l; //l is the layer index while (1)  if(l exceeds MAX layer number)   break; end if  for each {node} in {layer 1}   if (node is a LCA based on R)   F = F + node;   end if  end for  l = l + 1; // Layer index increases-> move to next layer end while.

Referring to FIG. 7, in some implementations, a method 700 includes, foreach OLT 202 in a signal distribution system 10 (communication network),receiving 702 a GPS signal 30 from each GPS receiver 100 in the signaldistribution system 12 at a corresponding MC 210 of the OLT 202.Moreover, the method 700 includes, for each LC 220 of each OLT,receiving 704 a GPS signal 30 from each MC 210 in the OLT 202,determining 706 a signal quality score S of each received signal 30based on a signal drift J and a phase precision D of the correspondingsignal 30, and selecting 708 one of the received GPS signals 30 havingthe highest signal quality score S, and utilizing the TOD signal of thehighest signal 30 having the highest signal quality score S.

In some implementations, the method 700 includes receiving a GPS signal30 from its corresponding GPS satellite 14 at each GPS receiver 100 andreplicating the received GPS signal 30 for communication to thecorresponding MC 210 in each OLT 202. The method 700 also includesreceiving a GPS signal 30 at each MC 210 from its corresponding GPSreceiver 100 and replicating the received GPS signal 30 forcommunication to each LC 220 in the OLT 202. Additionally, the method700 includes receiving GPS signals 30 at each LC 220 from each of theMCs 210 of the OLT 202 and replicating the received GPS signals 30. Insome examples, the method 700 includes replicating the GPS signal 30using a field programmable gate array, a fan-out buffer, or anyprogrammable or application specific device.

In some implementations, the method 700 includes receiving, at multipleselectors 224 in each LC 220, a GPS signal 30 from each MC 210 in thecorresponding OLT 202, and determining a signal quality score S of eachreceived signal 30 based on a signal drift J and a phase precision D ofthe corresponding signal 30. The method 700 also includes selecting oneof the received GPS signals 30 having the highest signal quality scoreS. In some examples, each LC 220 includes at least as many selectors 224as GPS receivers 100 in the signal distribution system 12.

In some implementations, the method 700 further includes associatingeach GPS signal 30 with a source identification that identifies a GPSsatellite 14 sending the GPS signal 30. After determining the signalquality score S of each received signal 30, the LC 220 may associate asource identification with the determined signal quality score S andstore the signal quality score S and the associated sourceidentification in non-transitory memory and select the sourceidentification associated with the received signal 30 having the highestsignal quality score S.

Referring to FIG. 8, in some implementations, a method 800 includesreceiving 802 GPS signals 30 from GPS receivers 100. The GPS receivers100 receive the GPS signals 30 from corresponding GPS satellites 14. Themethod 800 also includes determining 804, using a selector circuit 202(which may optionally include one or more of MCs 210, LCs 220, selectors224, or replication devices 212, 222), a signal quality score S of eachreceived signal 30 based on a signal drift J and a phase precision D ofthe corresponding signal 30, and selecting 806, using the selectorcircuit 202, one of the received GPS signals 30 having the highestsignal quality score S.

In some implementations, after determining the signal quality score S ofeach received signal 30, the method 800 further includes associating asource identification with the determined signal quality score S. Thesource identification identifies a GPS satellite 14 that sends the GPSsignal 30. The method 800 also includes storing the signal quality scoreS and the associated source identification in non-transitory memory, andselecting the source identification associated with the received GPSsignal 30 having the highest signal score.

In some implementations, the method 800 further includes iteratingthrough each of the GPS signals 30 from GPS receivers 100, and for eachiteration receiving a primary signal 30 including a currently selectedGPS signal 30 having the highest signal quality score S and a secondarysignal 30 including the GPS signal 30 of the corresponding iteration. Inaddition, after iterating through all of the GPS signals 30 from GPSreceivers 100, the method 800 includes: determining the signal qualityscore S of each received signal 30 based on a signal drift J and a phaseprecision D of the corresponding signal 30; and selecting the GPS signal30 having the highest signal quality score S as the primary signal 30.In some examples, at each iteration, the method 800 also includesreceiving a source identification of the primary signal 30 and a sourceidentification of the secondary signal 30. Additionally, when thereceived primary signal source identification does not match a sourceidentification of the currently selected GPS signal 30, the method 800includes triggering an error.

In some implementations, when receiving a rising edge of a pulse persecond signal component of the GPS signal 30, the method 800 includes:setting a bi-directional pin to an input pin; and receiving the primaryand optionally the secondary signal source identification. Moreover,when receiving a falling edge of the pulse per second signal componentof the GPS signal 30, the method 800 includes setting the bi-directionalpin to an output pin and outputting the primary signal sourceidentification and the secondary signal source identification. In someexamples, when receiving a rising edge of the pulse per second signalcomponent of the GPS signal 30, the method 800 includes comparing thereceived primary signal source identification with the primary signalsource identification outputted after the previous falling edge of thepulse per second signal component and triggering an error when theprimary signal source identifications do not match.

In some examples, the method 800 includes receiving, at a replicator,the GPS signals 30 from the GPS receivers 100. The replicator replicatesthe GPS signals 30. The method 800 also includes receiving the GPSsignals 30 at multiple selectors 224 in communication with thereplicator. Each selector 224 receives from the replicator a GPS signal30 from each GPS receiver 100 determines a signal quality score S ofeach received signal 30 based on a signal drift J and a phase precisionD of the corresponding signal 30 and selects one of the received GPSsignals 30 having the highest signal quality score S.

Referring to FIG. 9, in some implementations, a method 900 includesreceiving 902 a failure communication for a GPS signal 30 from a signaldistribution system 12 when the signal drift J of the GPS signal 30 isabove a threshold signal drift J or the phase precision D of the GPSsignal 30 is below a threshold phase precision D. The signaldistribution system 12 includes 904 GPS receivers 100 and OLTs 202. EachGPS receiver 100 receives a GPS signal 30 from a corresponding GPSsatellite 14. The OLTs 202 are communicating 906 with the GPS receivers100. Each OLT 202 includes multiple MCs 210 and multiple LCs 220collocated 910 for MCs 210 in the OLT 202. The MC 210 for each GPSreceiver 100 is in communication with the OLT 202. The MC 210 receives908 a GPS signal 30 from a corresponding GPS receiver 100. Each LCreceives 912 a GPS signal 30 from each MC 210 in the OLT 202 anddetermines 914 a signal drift J and a phase precision D for each GPSsignal 30. The method 900 also includes identifying a failure locationof the GPS signal 30 within the system based on one or more receivedfailure communications.

In some implementations, the method 900 includes identifying a LC 220 asa failure location when the LC 220 identifies a failure of a GPS signal30 while other LCs 220 of the same OLT 202 do not identify a failure ofthe GPS signal 30. Additionally or alternatively, the method 900 mayinclude identifying a MC 210 of an OLT 202 as a failure location whenevery LC 220 of that OLT 202 identifies a failure of a GPS signal 30while other LCs 220 of other OLTs 202 do not identify a failure of thatGPS signal 30. The method 900 may include identifying a GPS receiver 100as a failure location when the LCs 220 of every OLT 202 identifies afailure of a GPS signal 30 while at least some of the LCs 220 of theOLTs 202 do not identify a failure of a GPS signal 30 from another GPSreceiver 100.

In some implementations, the GPS receivers 100, the MCs 210, and the LCs220 each include a replicator. The replicator of each GPS receiver 100receives a GPS signal 30 from its corresponding GPS satellite 14 andreplicates the received GPS signal 30 for communication to thecorresponding MC 210 in each OLT 202. The replicator of each MC 210receives a GPS signal 30 from its corresponding GPS receiver 100 andreplicates the received GPS signal 30 for communication to each LC 220in the OLT 202. The replicator of each LC 220 receives GPS signals 30from each of the MCs 210 of the OLT 202 and replicates the received GPSsignals 30. Each LC 220 includes multiple analyzer circuits 224, eachreceiving the replicated GPS signals 30 from the replicator 222 of theLC 220. Moreover, each analyzer circuit 224 (e.g., selector) maydetermine the signal drift J and the phase precision D for each GPSsignal 30, compare the signal drift J of each GPS signal 30 with thethreshold signal drift J, compare the phase precision D of each GPSsignal 30 with the threshold phase precision D, and determine a failureof the GPS signal 30 when the signal drift J of the GPS signal 30 isabove the threshold signal drift J or the phase precision D of the GPSsignal 30 is below the threshold phase precision D. The method 900 mayfurther include identifying an analyzer circuit 224 as a failurelocation when that analyzer circuit 224 identifies a failure of a GPSsignal 30 while other analyzer circuits 224 do not identify a failure ofthat GPS signal 30.

The method 900 may include identifying the replicator 222 of a LC 220 asa failure location when the analyzer circuits 224 of that LC 220 eachidentify a failure of a GPS signal 30 while other analyzer circuits 224of other LCs 220 of the same OLT 202 do not identify a failure of thatGPS signal 30. Additionally or alternatively, the method 900 may includeidentifying the replicator 212 of an MC 210 of an OLT 202 as a failurelocation when the analyzer circuits 224 of every LC 220 of that OLT 202identifies a failure of a GPS signal 30 while other analyzer circuits224 of other OLTs 202 do not identify a failure of that GPS signal 30.Furthermore, additionally or alternatively, the method 900 may includeidentifying the replicator 110 of a GPS receiver 100 as a failurelocation when the analyzer circuits 224 of every OLT 202 identifies afailure of a GPS signal 30 while at least some of the analyzer circuits224 of the OLTs 202 do not identify a failure of a GPS signal 30 fromanother GPS receiver 100.

Referring to FIG. 10, in some implementations, a method 1000 includes,for each OLT 202 in a signal distribution system 12, receiving 1002 aGPS signal 30 from each GPS receiver 100 in the signal distributionsystem 12 at a corresponding MC 210 of the OLT 202. The method 1000 alsoincludes, for each LC 220 of each OLT 202, receiving 1004 a GPS signal30 from each MC 210 in the OLT 202 and determining 1006 a signal drift Jand a phase precision D for each GPS signal 30. When the signal drift Jof a GPS signal 30 is above a threshold signal drift J or the phaseprecision D of the GPS signal 30 is below a threshold phase precision D,the method 1000 includes identifying 1008 a failure location of the GPSsignal 30 within the system.

In some implementations, the method 1000 further includes identifying aLC 220 as a failure location when the LC 220 identifies a failure of aGPS signal 30 while other LCs 220 of the same OLT 202 do not identify afailure of the GPS signal 30, identifying a MC 210 of an OLT 202 as afailure location when every LC 220 of that OLT 202 identifies a failureof a GPS signal 30 while other LCs 220 of other OLTs 202 do not identifya failure of that GPS signal 30, and identifying a GPS receiver 100 as afailure location when the LCs 220 of every OLT 202 identifies a failureof a GPS signal 30 while at least some of the LCs 220 of the OLTs 202 donot identify a failure of a GPS signal 30 from another GPS receiver 100.

A number of implementations have been described. Nevertheless, it willbe understood that various modifications may be made without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the disclosure. Accordingly, otherimplementations are within the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A signal distribution system comprising: globalpositioning system receivers, each receiving a global positioning systemsignal from a corresponding global positioning system satellite; opticalline terminals in communication with the global positioning systemreceivers, each optical line terminal comprising: a management card foreach global positioning system receiver in communication with theoptical line terminal, the management card receiving a globalpositioning system signal from a corresponding global positioning systemreceiver; and a line card collocated for each management card in theoptical line terminal, each line card: receiving a global positioningsystem signal from each management card in the optical line terminal;and determining a signal drift and a phase precision for each globalpositioning system signal; and a system manager executing on a dataprocessing device in communication with the global positioning systemreceivers and the optical line terminals, the system manager: receivinga failure communication for a global positioning system signal from aline card when the signal drift of the global positioning system signalis above a threshold signal drift or the phase precision of the globalpositioning system signal is below a threshold phase precision; andidentifying a failure location of the global positioning system signalwithin the system based on one or more received failure communications.2. The system of claim 1, wherein the system manager identifies amanagement card of an optical line terminal as a failure location whenevery line card of that optical line terminal identifies a failure of aglobal positioning system signal while other line cards of other opticalline terminals do not identify a failure of that global positioningsystem signal.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the system manageridentifies a global positioning system receiver as a failure locationwhen the line cards of every optical line terminal identifies a failureof a global positioning system signal while at least some of the linecards of the optical line terminals do not identify a failure of aglobal positioning system signal from another global positioning systemreceiver.
 4. The system of claim 1, wherein the global positioningsystem receivers, the management cards, and the line cards each comprisea replicator, wherein: the replicator of each global positioning systemreceiver receives a global positioning system signal from itscorresponding global positioning system satellite and replicates thereceived global positioning system signal for communication to thecorresponding management card in each optical line terminal; thereplicator of each management card receives a global positioning systemsignal from its corresponding global positioning system receiver andreplicates the received global positioning system signal forcommunication to each line card in the optical line terminal; and thereplicator of each line card receives global positioning system signalsfrom each of the management cards of the optical line terminal andreplicates the received global positioning system signals; and whereineach line card comprises multiple analyzer circuits, each receiving thereplicated global positioning system signals from the replicator of theline card, each analyzer circuit: determining the signal drift and thephase precision for each global positioning system signal; comparing thesignal drift of each global positioning system signal with the thresholdsignal drift; comparing the phase precision of each global positioningsystem signal with the threshold phase precision; and determining afailure of the global positioning system signal when the signal drift ofthe global positioning system signal is above the threshold signal driftor the phase precision of the global positioning system signal is belowthe threshold phase precision.
 5. The system of claim 4, wherein thesystem manager identifies an analyzer circuit as a failure location whenthat analyzer circuit identifies a failure of a global positioningsystem signal while other analyzer circuits do not identify a failure ofthat global positioning system signal.
 6. The system of claim 5, whereinthe system manager identifies an analyzer circuit as a failure locationwhen that analyzer circuit identifies a failure of a global positioningsystem signal while all or a statistically significant number of otheranalyzer circuits do not identify a failure of that global positioningsystem signal.
 7. The system of claim 4, wherein the system manageridentifies the replicator of a line card as a failure location when theanalyzer circuits of that line card each identify a failure of a globalpositioning system signal while other analyzer circuits of other linecards of the same optical line terminal do not identify a failure ofthat global positioning system signal.
 8. The system of claim 4, whereinthe system manager identifies the replicator of a management card of anoptical line terminal as a failure location when the analyzer circuitsof every line card of that optical line terminal identifies a failure ofa global positioning system signal while other analyzer circuits ofother optical line terminals do not identify a failure of that globalpositioning system signal.
 9. The system of claim 4, wherein the systemmanager identifies the replicator of a global positioning systemreceiver as a failure location when the analyzer circuits of everyoptical line terminal identifies a failure of a global positioningsystem signal while at least some of the analyzer circuits of theoptical line terminals do not identify a failure of a global positioningsystem signal from another global positioning system receiver.
 10. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein each global positioning system signalcomprises a frequency signal component, a pulse per second signalcomponent, and a time-of-day component, the signal drift comprising adrift of the pulse per second signal component and a drift of thefrequency signal component.
 11. The system of claim 10, wherein the linecard determines the signal drift of a signal by calculating:J _(i) =g _(J)(J _(i) ^(F) ,J _(i) ^(P)) wherein J_(i) is a total driftof a signal, J_(i) ^(F) is the frequency drift of a signal, J_(i) ^(F)is the pulse per second drift of the signal, and g_(J) is a function ofthe frequency drift and the pulse per second drift of the signal. 12.The system of claim 10, wherein the phase precision comprises: anoffline measurement of a propagation delay of the pulse per secondcomponent of the global positioning system signal between the globalpositioning system receiver and the analyzer circuit; and an onlinemeasurement of a relative phase offset of the pulse per second signalcomponent, the relative phase offset determined based on a referencepulse per second reference signal.
 13. The system of claim 12, whereinthe reference signal is the received pulse per second signal componentreceived at the analyzer circuit or a signal generated by ahigh-precision high-frequency oscillator.
 14. The system of claim 13,wherein the line card determines the phase precision of the signal bycalculating:D _(i) =D _(i) ^(P) −D _(i) ^(R) wherein D_(i) is the phase precision ofa signal, D_(i) ^(P) is the offline measurement of the propagation delayof the pulse per second signal component between the global positioningsystem receiver and the analyzer circuit, and D_(i) ^(R) is the onlinemeasurement of the relative phase offset of the pulse per second signalcomponent.
 15. A method comprising: receiving a failure communicationfor a global positioning system signal from a signal distribution systemwhen the signal drift of the global positioning system signal is above athreshold signal drift or the phase precision of the global positioningsystem signal is below a threshold phase precision, the signaldistribution system comprising: global positioning system receivers,each receiving a global positioning system signal from a correspondingglobal positioning system satellite; and optical line terminals incommunication with the global positioning system receivers, each opticalline terminal comprising: a management card for each global positioningsystem receiver in communication with the optical line terminal, themanagement card receiving a global positioning system signal from acorresponding global positioning system receiver; and a line cardcollocated for each management card in the optical line terminal, eachline card: receiving a global positioning system signal from eachmanagement card in the optical line terminal; and determining a signaldrift and a phase precision for each global positioning system signal;and identifying a failure location of the global positioning systemsignal within the system based on one or more received failurecommunications.
 16. The method of claim 15, further comprisingidentifying a line card as a failure location when the line cardidentifies a failure of a global positioning system signal while otherline cards of the same optical line terminal do not identify a failureof the global positioning system signal.
 17. The method of claim 15,further comprising identifying a management card of an optical lineterminal as a failure location when every line card of that optical lineterminal identifies a failure of a global positioning system signalwhile other line cards of other optical line terminals do not identify afailure of that global positioning system signal.
 18. The method ofclaim 15, further comprising identifying a global positioning systemreceiver as a failure location when the line cards of every optical lineterminal identifies a failure of a global positioning system signalwhile at least some of the line cards of the optical line terminals donot identify a failure of a global positioning system signal fromanother global positioning system receiver.
 19. The method of claim 15,wherein the global positioning system receivers, the management cards,and the line cards each comprise a replicator, wherein: the replicatorof each global positioning system receiver receives a global positioningsystem signal from its corresponding global positioning system satelliteand replicates the received global positioning system signal forcommunication to the corresponding management card in each optical lineterminal; the replicator of each management card receives a globalpositioning system signal from its corresponding global positioningsystem receiver and replicates the received global positioning systemsignal for communication to each line card in the optical line terminal;and the replicator of each line card receives global positioning systemsignals from each of the management cards of the optical line terminaland replicates the received global positioning system signals; andwherein each line card comprises multiple analyzer circuits, eachreceiving the replicated global positioning system signals from thereplicator of the line card, each analyzer circuit: determining thesignal drift and the phase precision for each global positioning systemsignal; comparing the signal drift of each global positioning systemsignal with the threshold signal drift; comparing the phase precision ofeach global positioning system signal with the threshold phaseprecision; and determining a failure of the global positioning systemsignal when the signal drift of the global positioning system signal isabove the threshold signal drift or the phase precision of the globalpositioning system signal is below the threshold phase precision. 20.The method of claim 19, further comprising identifying an analyzercircuit as a failure location when that analyzer circuit identifies afailure of a global positioning system signal while other analyzercircuits do not identify a failure of that global positioning systemsignal.
 21. The method of claim 19, further comprising identifying thereplicator of a line card as a failure location when the analyzercircuits of that line card each identify a failure of a globalpositioning system signal while other analyzer circuits of other linecards of the same optical line terminal do not identify a failure ofthat global positioning system signal.
 22. The method of claim 19,further comprising identifying the replicator of a management card of anoptical line terminal as a failure location when the analyzer circuitsof every line card of that optical line terminal identifies a failure ofa global positioning system signal while other analyzer circuits ofother optical line terminals do not identify a failure of that globalpositioning system signal.
 23. The method of claim 19, furthercomprising identifying the replicator of a global positioning systemreceiver as a failure location when the analyzer circuits of everyoptical line terminal identifies a failure of a global positioningsystem signal while at least some of the analyzer circuits of theoptical line terminals do not identify a failure of a global positioningsystem signal from another global positioning system receiver.
 24. Themethod of claim 15, wherein each global positioning system signalcomprises a frequency signal component, a pulse per second signalcomponent, and a time-of-day component, the signal drift comprising adrift of the pulse per second signal component and a drift of thefrequency signal component.
 25. The method of claim 24, furthercomprising determining the signal drift of a signal by calculating:J _(i) =g _(J)(J _(i) ^(F) ,J _(i) ^(P)) wherein J_(i) is a total driftof a signal, J_(i) ^(F) is the frequency drift of a signal, J_(i) ^(F)is the pulse per second drift of the signal, and g_(J) is a function ofthe frequency drift and the pulse per second drift of the signal. 26.The method of claim 24, wherein the phase precision comprises: anoffline measurement of a propagation delay of a pulse per secondcomponent of the global positioning system signal between the globalpositioning system receiver and the analyzer circuit; and an onlinemeasurement of a relative phase offset of the pulse per second signalcomponent, the relative phase offset determined based on a referencepulse per second reference signal.
 27. The method of claim 26, whereinthe reference signal is the received pulse per second signal componentreceived at the analyzer circuit or a signal generated by ahigh-precision high-frequency oscillator.
 28. The method of claim 27,further comprising determining the phase precision of the signal bycalculating:D _(i) =D _(i) ^(P) −D _(i) ^(R) wherein D_(i) is the phase precision ofa signal, D_(i) ^(P) is the offline measurement of the propagation delayof the pulse per second signal component between the global positioningsystem receiver and the analyzer circuit, and D_(i) ^(R) is the onlinemeasurement of the relative phase offset of the pulse per second signalcomponent.
 29. A method comprising: for each optical line terminal in asignal distribution system: receiving a global positioning system signalfrom each global positioning system receiver in the signal distributionsystem at a corresponding management card of the optical line terminal;and for each line card of each optical line terminal: receiving a globalpositioning system signal from each management card in the optical lineterminal; determining a signal drift and a phase precision for eachglobal positioning system signal; and when the signal drift of a globalpositioning system signal is above a threshold signal drift or the phaseprecision of the global positioning system signal is below a thresholdphase precision, identifying a failure location of the globalpositioning system signal within the system.
 30. The system of claim 29,further comprising: identifying a line card as a failure location whenthe line card identifies a failure of a global positioning system signalwhile other line cards of the same optical line terminal do not identifya failure of the global positioning system signal; identifying amanagement card of an optical line terminal as a failure location whenevery line card of that optical line terminal identifies a failure of aglobal positioning system signal while other line cards of other opticalline terminals do not identify a failure of that global positioningsystem signal; and identifying a global positioning system receiver as afailure location when the line cards of every optical line terminalidentifies a failure of a global positioning system signal while atleast some of the line cards of the optical line terminals do notidentify a failure of a global positioning system signal from anotherglobal positioning system receiver.